Rebecca, I don't know definitively from experience what turns the ball from yellow to green or green to yellow so perhaps I shouldn't answer. I only know that on this page at least the claim is made by Google that the ball turns yellow if you've been "away from your computer for 15 minutes. You can't manually select to appear idle."
http://support.google.com/chat/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=161809&topic=2386371&ctx=topic To me "away from computer" means no user input to the computer. So Gmail just receiving an email shouldn't cause a reset to the idle time. But again, I can't say I've tested it so I don't know for sure. Kenneth On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 3:07 PM, Rebecca <[email protected]> wrote: > Okay, I know this may seem like a very silly question to most (even > myself) but I have searched around for an answer and I am coming up empty > handed. > > While signed onto chat through gmail open in your browser tab the Yellow > and Green ball next to a contact name means Yellow-Idle Green-active. Now > ...I have read different times for how long one must be idle for in order > for the status ball to change (I've seen 15 mintues, also 10 mintues) > Regardless here is what I'm wondering. > > When the status ball has turned YELLOW- does this mean that the user has > not used their "chat" feature for 15 minutes or has not used the gmail that > is open in the tab all together? > > I have read in other posts that some believe it means you have not used > your computer or browser for the idled time. However I know from past > experience that it is not the case. With gmail open in a tab I have gone > to another site for a while and when I clicked back to my "google tab" my > status ball is yellow (or orange as some may see it) > > It wasn't until I clicked on a contact to send a "chat message" that my > status turned (GREEN) Would it have stayed green the entire time if I > would have wondered back and pressed refresh on my email or opened a new > email? > > I'm curious how it could be a valid status indicating if you were active > or idle if it is indicating if you have used gmail in general and not just > chat. If you receive a new email therefore causing your email to > refresh...wouldn't that make your status green even if you haven't used > your chat in some time? > > Again, I know this may seem very confusing and not very important LOL. if > I can clarify anything please let me know. Any input is much > appreciated. > > Thank you! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Gmail-Users" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-users?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gmail-Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-users?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
